'No plan B': Crack international team of 500 will attempt 'crazy' salvage operation on Costa Concordia

The Costa Concordia will finally be hauled upright in an unprecedented 12-hour operation involving 500 people, 30,000 tons of steel and hollow boxes the height of an 11-storey building, it was announced Thursday.

The 950ft cruise ship has been lying on its side in shallow water off the Tuscan island of Giglio since it capsized on January 13, 2012, with the loss of 32 lives.

But on Monday, an international team of engineers and salvage experts will attempt to right the wreck in one of the biggest operations in maritime history.

At a press conference, they admitted the strategy to raise the Concordia had seemed “crazy” until just a few months ago and there was no “plan B” if it failed.

They conceded that the ship would be subjected to huge stresses when it was hauled upright, but played down the idea that the vessel could break up under the “extreme amount of force” that would be exerted on its hull.

“It’s an operation that has never been attempted before,” said Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection department, which deals with disasters.

“The possibility of the ship breaking up into pieces is remote, according to our data and modelling.”

The operation, likely to cost pounds 500 million, will start at dawn.

A complex system of hydraulic jacks and steel cables will pull the 114,000-ton ship, which is wedged on two granite pinnacles in shallow water a few yards off Giglio’s rocky shore, into an upright position.

The process will be helped by 11 huge hollow steel boxes known as “sponsons”, some of them the height of an 11-storey-building, which have been welded to the upturned side of the hull and will be flooded with water to assist the rotation of the ship.

Engineers admit that they do not know how firmly the ship is stuck on the rocks, nor how much force will need to be applied to prise the vessel free.

But once the rusting wreck is wrenched from where it has lain for 20 months, the operation must continue – there will be no chance of stopping and starting again.

“Once you start lifting her off the reef you have already gone beyond the point of no return,” said Nick Sloane, the South African salvage master who is in charge of the operation.

If all goes according to plan, the liner will come to rest on an artificial seabed made up of six steel platforms and 1,200 sacks of cement. More than 30,000 tons of steel have been used in the fabrication of all the components required to lift the ship – equivalent to four times the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

“To envision, plan and then implement a project involving 30,000 tons of steel in 14 months is extraordinary. We’ve overcome many difficulties, let’s hope we’re successful,” said Sergio Girotto, a senior engineer from Micoperi, the Italian salvage company that, with the American company Titan, is leading the operation.

The whole operation is expected to take 10 to 12 hours, with engineers explaining that the raising has to be done as slowly and gradually as possible to “minimise the shock-load” and prevent the massive vessel from fracturing. As the ship is raised, miniature underwater submarines known as remote operated vehicles will scan the hull and water for any remains of the two people whose bodies were not recovered – an Indian waiter and an Italian woman.

The bow of the cruise liner will be protected by two “blister tanks”, massive steel structures that will act as the equivalent of a neck brace for an injured person, protecting the spine of the ship as it is hauled upright.

Floating booms normally used to contain oil spills will catch the huge amount of debris that is expected to spew out of the ship’s battered hull. Once righted, the ship will be towed away and broken up for scrap sometime next year, after winter storms have abated.

The Concordia hit the rocks after its captain, Francesco Schettino, took the ship too close to shore in a misjudged “salute” to the island. He is on trial facing multiple charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, with the next hearing to be held on September 23 in Grosseto, Tuscany.